Dreams of Candlelight
by Arella Hallo
Summary: Hotaru waited hours for her brother to pass by so she could spend a little time with him, but things don't always end the way we plan. HeeroHotaru one-shot. Cute, but not a whole lot more than that. Song is owned by Trans Siberian Orchestra.


Dreams of Candlelight

Arella Hallo

An: I got hit on the head with inspiration a little while ago. I promise I'll update Messengers soon.

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_'Could this night it last forever'_

Hotaru exhaled slowly and looked around the park again. Night had fallen a long time before, but she had remained. People passing her on the path muttered to each other that she looked like she was waiting for something to happen.

In a way, she was. She had sat in the same place all afternoon and into the evening for the chance to see her brother and his friends. They were busy, but she knew they sometimes passed through the park on their way home at night.

_'Every moment held together'_

She shivered and looked at her watch again. Midnight. It was Christmas Day. She heaved another sigh and stood. They weren't coming. Or, they had already gone. Either way, her fingers were becoming numb inside her gloves and she could no longer feel her butt.

She needed to get back to her apartment. At least she could sink into her over-sized tub and soak away the cold that had crept into her bones sometime during her long wait.

_'As if in a perfect trance'  
_

"Hey! Hotaru!" someone yelled. Their voice carried clearly on the icy night air and rolled over her like a wave in the ocean. The senshi of Death and Destruction turned to face her brother, the pilot of the Deathsythe Hell. He was jogging down the path in his Preventers uniform. His closest friend, Heero Yuy trailed behind him. "What the hell are you doing out this late?"

"Waiting for you."

"How long have you been out here?"

"Not long."

'_And such a thing could be' _

"Come on, we're going for food. Lady Une kept us late with paper work. Do you know I have to fill out ten forms when I discharge my gun?" He slung his arm around her shoulders and continued down the path. Hotaru could feel Heero at their backs, ever on guard.

"Which one?" There was a soft snort somewhere behind time, but Hotaru doubted that Duo had heard it. She wanted to look back and see Heero Yuy smile. It had been a very long time.

"You're disgusting, you know that, Hoto-chan?" Duo grumbled, but grinned anyway.

"How's Relena?"

'_No one else would understand it' _

"Don't know. Haven't seen her in a good long while, have we, Heero?"

"No." Hotaru strongly suspected that Heero himself was the reason they couldn't tell her anything about the Vice Foreign Minister. Relena must have found someone who wasn't haunted by their past to love her.

"Were are we going?"

"Waffles, hopefully. Hey, Hotaru, why were you waiting for us?"

"When was the last time I got to spend time with you, Duo?"

"Do no. When?"

_  
'We would know the Gods had planned it'_

"Three weeks ago, I was running and you mowed me over in your exuberance."

"Oh, yea." He scratched the back of his head and had the grace to look abashed.

There was another snort behind them and this time Hotaru craned her neck around to see Heero's face. It was as smooth and emotionless as stone, but she saw a flash of something in his eye. She smiled at him before turning back to Duo.

He stopped walking suddenly, a look of horror on his face. "What is it?" she demanded, scowling at him.

"I forgot Ami's Christmas present back in the office. I've gotta get it. Hey, Heero, will you make sure Hotaru gets home in one piece? I've gotta go." Then he turned and ran back the way they'd come without waiting for an answer.

Hotaru smiled vaguely after him. Her brother was such a fool sometimes.

_  
'And for such a night as this' _

"Well, let's go," she said suddenly, startling them both. "There's no use waiting for him. I'll make you something to eat, or we can raid my fridge and hope that everything hasn't molded over." Heero looked like he wanted to argue for a moment, then thought better of it. He nodded and fell into step with her.

Silence settled around them as they walked the rest of the way to Hotaru's apartment on the edge of the park.

_  
'That they gave memory '_

It was warm and dark when they entered. Hotaru flipped the hall lights and frowned when they didn't spring to life. She strode into the living room and tried the lights there. Her entire apartment was powerless. "I suppose I should be thankful for the heat," she muttered and fumbled around on the mantle in search of a lighter. "Something must be wrong with the power. The lights are out. Sorry about this!" she called and lit one candle. She turned and found Heero at her back. How he had gotten so close without her noticing, she had no idea.

"It's all right. I don't mind the dark." He took the lighter from her and went around the room, lighting the rest of the candles. They cast the apartment into eerie shadow.

_'And we would live inside this night'_

"Neither do I, actually," Hotaru muttered to herself, watching him move around the room. He had all the grace of a cat packed into his well-muscle frame. His brown hair was in the same messy state she always remembered it being in. Just at that second, with candlelight shining into his face, she longed to run her fingers through it in an effort to straighten it out.

"Can you cook, or do you need real light?" he asked suddenly, startling her. He was still moving though the apartment, lighting candles, so he hadn't noticed her scrutiny, thank the sun.

"I think I can manage without. Do you want anything in particular?" She moved into the kitchen.

"Waffles drowning in syrup and butter." She turned to see him smiling softly at the window. Snow was drifting down in fat flakes.

"He must have at least one good memory in there," she muttered to herself and fished inside one of the cabinets for a cookbook. Waffles it would be.

_  
'Within these dreams of candlelight'_

Thirty minutes later, they sat down at the small kitchen table with a pile of waffles between them. Heero helped himself to two. Hotaru didn't touch anything. She merely cradled her mug of hot tea close to her chest. She was still a little cool, but thousands of times better than she had been in the park.

"Eat. You're too skinny," he grunted and shoveled a waffle onto her plate. The he spread butter across the top and poured so much syrup on top that she nearly gagged.

"I'm **too** skinny?" she demanded, shooting him a look. "I'll have you know that plenty of girls starve themselves to have my body and they don't look nearly as good as I do."

"And you're proud of that?" he asked softly, not looking up from the food on his plate.

"Not really."

"Then why did you say something?"

"I don't know."

_  
'If you would bring this wish to life' _

They sat in silence a while longer. She cut up the waffle, but spent much of the time pushing it around the plate in it's syrup sea. She looked up at one point and found him glaring at the plate. He knew she hadn't had a single bite. He probably thought she was anorexic. She made a big show of spearing a particularly large bite and chewing it up before he would go back to eating.

"Why are you so skinny?" he asked suddenly. "You and Duo. Well, Duo eats anything you put down in front of him, but he doesn't get any bigger. What's your excuse?"

"It's the hight metabolism in our genes. Comes from our father, among other things." She frowned, remembering the nights she had spent locked inside her own body with Mistress 9 in full control. He'd done that to her, too.

_  
And spend this night with me _

She didn't see his hand move until it rubbed against the corner of her mouth, wiping something away. Their eyes met and he licked his thumb as he stared at her. "What are you doing?"

He didn't make a sound as he leaned around the corner of the table and pressed his lips to hers. They were warm and sweet like the syrup he'd been ingesting at an amazing rate. He pulled away just as suddenly and lurched to his feet, staring down at her like she was something alien, not the girl he had just kissed. "You've been keeping secrets, Hotaru," he said softly. His fingers rose and trailed over her forehead. Her symbol was glowing among her bangs.

"Whoops?" she whispered, looking away. Maybe she was an alien.

'_Could this moment last forever'_

"I don't think 'whoops' really covers this one." He smiled. "What were you doing during our stupid little war, Saturn? Why didn't you fight?"

"Because it was your stupid little war, not mine. I choose my battles. The Eve Wars weren't supposed to be one of mine. Now, sit back down before everything goes cold."

_  
'And this dream our one endeavor'_

He sat and relaxed into his chair again. Then he went back to his food like nothing had happened. She strongly suspected that he was using the excuse of eating to take time to think. Suddenly, he spoke again. "Does Duo know?"

"He's my brother, isn't he?" she snapped and huffed a little. How annoying! He didn't think she would tell her own brother!

"Anyone else?"

"More people than you really need to know about."

"Your friends, they're the Legendary Sailor Senshi, aren't they?"

"I was wondering when you were going to put two and two together," she mumbled more to herself than him.

_  
'If the stars would just enchant'_

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked suddenly. Minutes ticked by before he answered.

"Because you're beautiful and I couldn't help myself."

"I doubt that."

"I told Trowa once that the only way to lead a good life is to act on you emotions. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"And now?"

"Still not looking that bad." She smiled and looked up. He was gazing steadily back.

_  
'And time would then agree'_

"What were you remembering about snow and waffles, Heero?" she asked suddenly.

"Something in me remembers cold weather and cooking. It smelled like waffles or pancakes, sometimes it smells like muffins, but it brings me comfort on the bad nights."

"You still dream of those you killed, don't you?"

"Do you?"

"The only person I ever killed... was Usagi-chan. It was a long time ago."

'_Every moment of tomorrow'_

"Every night, huh?"

"For a very long time. I will never forget the look on her face, though it seems that she has. As has everyone else."

"How long ago?"

"Several thousands of years and a drop of my glaive."

"What does that do?"

She smiled bitterly. "It restarts time, from the very beginning."

_  
'From this evening we would borrow'_

"That's an awesome power."

"A very heavy burden to say the least," she muttered.

"If it was for the best..."

"Maybe not. If I hadn't dropped it, we would have been able to carry on normal lives after reincarnation. Now, that will never happen."

"What do you remember about Christmas, Hotaru?"

"My brother walking through the door alive and safe five years ago. That was the best gift I've ever received."

Her eyes glazed over with the memory of the pounding on her door at three in the morning. She had opened it and Duo had swept her into a hug. He had whispered, "It's over, it's finally over," in her ear until he had fallen asleep in her bed.

_  
'If this wish the stars would grant'_

"Why did you stay tonight, Heero?" she asked softly.

"Because I was hoping that you're a better cook than Duo. He tends to burn everything."

"Is that the only reason?"

"It was at first."

_  
'And gently oversee_'

Candle light glowed on his face and made her heart thump in her chest. God, someone had loved him when they made his strong jaw and deep blue eyes. "And now?"

"It isn't even the least. I'm gad I came tonight. Sleep well, Hoto-chan." He stood and brushed his lips across her cheek before slipping from the kitchen. She heard the door open and close. Then she heard his soft footsteps in the hall. The elevator opened and closed and he was gone.

The lights flickered on and she jumped, then cursed herself for being so jumpy. She sighed and stood. Then she moved around the kitchen, cleaning up the plates and sticking the leftovers into a bag for later consumption.

Then she moved through the apartment, shutting off lights, before moving on, to her bed room. A bath was too much effort, and it was late. She fell into her bed and kicked off her tennis shoes. When she rolled onto the pillow, there was a not in the way.

Frowning, she flipped on the bedside lamp and read:

_And we would live inside this night  
Within these dreams of candlelight  
If you would bring this wish to life  
And spend this night with me _

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

An: Just a silly little one-shot. I know the characters weren't in their right minds, but perfection is non-existent. Please review, I want to know what everyone thought. I might even be inclined to write a sequel if there's enough feed-back.


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